First as to Speech. That privilege rests upon the premise that there is no proposition so uniformly acknowledged that it may not be lawfully challenged, questioned, and debated. It need not rest upon the further premise that there are no propositions that are not open to doubt; it is enough, even if there are, that in the end it is worse to suppress dissent than to run the risk of heresy.
Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
“The Guardians,” Oliver Wendell Holmes Lecture #3, Harvard University (1958)
(Source)
Speaking of the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Life is made up of constant calls to action, and we seldom have time for more than hastily contrived answers; to follow one’s hunch is usually better than lying doggo, and rough generalizations that have worked well in the past easily easily take on the authority of universals. It does violence to our inner being to be obliged to give a hearing to opinions widely at variance with those we are accustomed to, and to come to a conclusion unweighted by desire.
Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
“At Fourscore,” speech, Harvard Club of New York (1952-01-18)
(Source)
First published in the Harvard Alumni Bulletin (23 Feb 1952).
I shall ask no more than that you agree with Dean Inge that even though counting heads is not an ideal way to govern, at least it beats breaking them.
Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
“Democracy: Its Presumptions and Realities,” speech, Federal Bar Association, Washington, DC (1932-03-08)
(Source)
First printed in the Federal Bar Association Journal (Mar 1932).
I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.
Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
“The Spirit of Liberty,” speech, “I Am an American Day,” New York (1941-05-21)
(Source)
The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the mind of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned but never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest.
Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
“The Spirit of Liberty,” speech, “I Am an American Day,” New York (1941-05-21)
(Source)
Is life supposed to stop because you did something horrible? I’ll tell you the real horrible truth, Anita. No matter what you do or how bad you feel about it, life just goes on. Life doesn’t give a fuck that you’re sorry or upset or deranged or tormented. Life just goes on, and you gotta go on with it, or sit in the middle of the road and feel sorry for yourself.
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.
A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.
Joseph Hall (1574-1656) English clergyman and satirist
(Attributed)
INTERVIEWER: What has the study of biology taught you about the Creator, Dr. Haldane?
HALDANE: I’m not sure, but He seems to be inordinately fond of beetles.J.B.S. Haldane (1892-1964) English geneticist [John Burden Sanderson Haldane]
(Attributed)
Variations are given in a variety of sources. A direct, citeable quote on the theme can be found in J.B.S. Haldane, What is Life? (1949):The Creator would appear as endowed with a passion for stars, on the one hand, and for beetles on the other, for the simple reason that there are nearly 300,000 species of beetle known, and perhaps more, as compared with somewhat less than 9,000 species of birds and a little over 10,000 species of mammals. Beetles are actually more numerous than the species of any other insect order. That kind of thing is characteristic of nature.
I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.
No vacation goes unpunished.
Karl Hakkarainen (contemp.) American technical consultant, writer
(Attributed)
Movements born in hatred very quickly take on the characteristics of the thing they oppose.
John S. Habgood (1927-2019) British ecclesiastic, Archbishop of York
(Attributed)
The idea that an arbitrary naive human should be able to properly use a given tool without training or understanding is even more wrong for computing than it is for other tools (e.g. automobiles, airplanes, guns, power saws).
Doug A. Gwyn (contemp.) American computer scientist
(Attributed)
UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, because that would also stop you from doing clever things.
Doug A. Gwyn (contemp.) American computer scientist
(Attributed)
Grandma always admonished me to be a “good girl.” “Why should he buy the cow when he gets the milk for free?” she’d ask. And I’d remind her that once he owns the cow, he can turn her into hamburger.
If a sufficient number of people who wanted to stop war really did gather together, they would first of all begin by making war upon those who disagreed with them. And it is still more certain that they would make war on people who also want to stop wars but in
another way.Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1873-1949) Russian teacher, writer
(Attributed)
Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea.
John Gunther (1901-1970) American journalist
(Attributed)
Silence is argument carried out by other means.
Che Guevara (1928-1967) Argentine revolutionary [b. Ernesto Guevara da la Serna]
(Attributed)
We are commanded to love God with all our minds, as well as with all our hearts, and we commit a great sin if we forbid or prevent that cultivation of the mind in others which would enable them to perform this duty.
I have not placed reading before praying because I regard it more important, but because, in order to pray aright, we must understand what we are praying for.
Angelina Grimké Weld (1805-1879) American abolitionist, women's rights activist
“Appeal to the Christian Women of the South,” Anti-Slavery Examiner (Sep 1836)
(Source)
Security is when everything is settled. When nothing can happen to you. Security is the denial of life.
No statement, theological or otherwise, should be made that would not be credible in the presence of burning children.
Irving Yitzchak Greenberg (b. 1933) American rabbi, scholar, author
(Attributed)
I’ve got a simple rule: if I can do it, it’s not art.
Rick Green (b. 1953) Canadian comedian
(Attributed)
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.Thomas Gray (1716-1771) English poet
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” st. 14, l. 53ff (1751)
(Source)
The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open.
Günter Grass (1927-2015) German author, playwright, Nobel laureate
(Attributed)
God gave Moses the Ten Commandments: rules of behavior that were supposed to make people moral. Ten was too much to remember. Jesus knew this. He brought them down to two: Love God and Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself. Still too much to remember, if the last 2,000 years is an indicator. So let’s bring it down to a simple four words: Don’t be a bastard.
Steven Grant (b. 1953) American writer
Scars, #6 (Afterword) (Jun 2003)
The strongest human instinct is to impart information, the second is to resist it.
Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) Scottish author
(Attributed)
If the Supreme Creator had meant us to be gloomy, he would, it seems to me, have clothed the earth in black, not in that lively green, which is the livery of cheerfulness and joy.
Janet Graham (1723?-1789) Scottish poet, author
This History of Emily Montague
The man who can make up his mind quick, makes up other people’s minds for them. Decision is a sharp knife that cuts clear and straight and lays bare the fat and the lean; indecision is a dull one that hacks and tears and leaves ragged edges behind it.
George Horace Lorimer (1867-1937) American journalist, author, magazine editor
Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, ch. 3 (1903)
(Source)
The pillow is a silent Sibyl, and to sleep upon an enterprise avails more than to be sleepless under it.
[Es la almohada Sibila muda, y el dormir sobre los puntos vale más que el desvelarse debajo de ellos.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 151 (1647) [tr. Fischer (1937)]
(Source)
(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:
The Pillow is a dumb Sibylle. To sleep upon a thing that is to be done, is better than to be awaked by a thing already done.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]
The pillow is a silent Sibyl, and it is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]
The pillow is a tongueless sibyl, and it is better to sleep on something than to lie awake when things are on top of you.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]
Many would be wise if they did not think themselves wise.
[Serían sabios algunos si no creyesen que lo son.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 176 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
(Source)
(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:
Some would be wise, if they did not think themselves so.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]
Some would be wise if they did not believe themselves wise.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]
Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]
Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.
[Nunca se le ha de abrir la puerta al menor mal, que siempre vendrán tras él otros muchos, y mayores, en celada.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 31 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
(Source)
(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:
We must not open the door to the least evil, for others, and those greater too, which lie in ambush come always after.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]
Never open the door to a small misfortune, for many more always creep in behind it, and greater ones, under its protection.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]
Never open the door to the least of evils, for many other, greater ones lurk outside.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]
Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.
[Sin valor es estéril la sabiduría.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 4 (1647) [tr. Maurer (1992)]
(Source)
(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:
Knowledge is barren, if Valour do'nt accompany it.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]
Knowledge without courage is sterile.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]
Without courage, the mind is dead.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]